Smokers&#39; articles



United States Patent Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee Priority Desmond Walter Molins London, England;

Tom Rowlands, London, England 701,648

Jan. 30, 1968 Aug. 18, 1970 Molins Machine Company Limited London, England a Corp. of Great Britain Feb. 8, 1967 Great Britain SMOKERS ARTICLES 8 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

U.S.C1

lnt.C1

A24dl/04,

Field of Search 12/1902 Harnisch References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Gueniffet et a1. 131/261(B)UX 131/11 2,226,473 12/1940 Kennedy 131/11X 2,820,460 1/1958 Bunzl et 31.. 131/10.5UX 3,052,163 9/1962 Schubert 131/94X 3,234,949 2/1966 White et a1. 131/10.5 FOREIGN PATENTS 68,658 5/1915 Austria 131/10 117,676 5/1930 Austria 131/11 760,772 11/1956 Great Britain 131/10.5

Primary Examiner- Aldrich F. Medbery Assistant Examiner- James H. Czerwonky Attorney-Watson, Cole, Grindle and Watson Patented Aug. 18, I970 I-MVENTaRs A TToRArEys SMOKERS ARTICLES This invention concerns improvements in or relating to smokers articles and is particularly concerned with cigars or cigarettes having tubular mouthpieces.

This type of article can comprise a tobacco rod and a mouthpiece in the form of a cylindrical tube made of stiff paper, card, parchment or some similar material, the two being joined together by a uniting band of tipping paper.

At one time the tubes were formed from a continuous web in two steps by rolling the material into a spiral along the web and then cutting off the tube sovformed across the width of the web and along the length of the tube, the web being advanced intermittently. More recently the tubes have been formed from one or more continuous webs of material by bringing the longitudinal edges of the web or webs together and cutting the tubes off across the web and also across the end of the tube so formed, whilst the web is continuously advanced. The latter process is far superior to the older method since the tubes can be produced at a very much higher rate. However there are problems in designing a tube which is not only suitable for forming in this way but which is also a satisfactory commercial product, bearing in mind the various, often stringent, requirements to be met.

In the first place there is the overriding consideration of cost which, because of the competitiveness of the industry has to be kept extremely low and consequently severely limits the designer's scope particularlywith regard to the selection of tube material, which in practice is thus restricted to either stiff paper or light card. Secondly, smokers tend to be very particular people and their opinion of a brand can readily be influenced by quite small details. Thus it is undesirable for the outer edge of tube material to overlie the tube since this produces a ridge along the tube which the smoker finds detracts from its otherwise pleasant appearance and satisfying feel. Furthermore the tube should be reasonably strong so that it does not require delicate handling to avoid deformation. It must also be capable of being formed accurately so that it can be joined to tobacco rod to present a continuous surface therewith. For these reasons the most satisfactory form of tube is one formed from a single thickness of material having a longitudinal seam in which the edges of the material abut one another to form a smooth cylindrical outer surface. This is encased in a retaining wrapper of thin paper.

Whilst such a tube is admirable from the point of view of the foregoing requirements it is difficult to manufacture. In order for the wrapper to be stretched tightly over the tube, without creasing, it is necessary to compress the tube to a smaller diameter than is required in the finished article, join the edges of the wrapper together around the compressed tube and then allow the compressed tube to expand into the wrapper. If the tube is formed of a thin enough material this technique works well, the edges of the tube overlapping one another as it is compressed and the natural resilience and flexibility of the material causing it to expand back to its original diameter with the edges abutting. However, as has been previously mentioned the tube must be strong. The materials that can be used can be either thin enough to have the necessary resilience or stout enough to have the necessary strength, but the stouter material is neither resilient nor flexible enough nor is the thinner material strong enough. Neither can a good enough compromise be achieved.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved smokers article which can be manufactured quickly and cheaply and which is satisfactory to the smoker.

According to the present invention there is provided a tubular mouthpiece for securing to a tobacco rod to form a smokers article, the tubular mouthpiece consisting of an outer tube made of a strip of resilient material whose longitudinal edges are neatly abutted, an inner reinforcing tube made of a strip of resilient material whose longitudinal edges are The provision of an inner tube reinforces the outer tube to give it the necessary strength and at the same time the inner tube, being resilient, assists in the expansion of the outer tube into the outer wrapper, whilst so long as the edges are not abutting, the tube can be compressed. The inner tube need not be made accurately since it can expand to the final inner dimension of the outer tube.

The longitudinal edge portions of the inner tube of the mouthpiece preferably overlap each other. Preferably the inner and outer tubes are held in position solely by the thin paper wrapper which enclosed the outer tube; this paper wrapper is secured by a gummed lap joint, and the inner and outer tubes are free from adhesive. However, if desired, they may be adhesively secured to each other; similarly the overlapping parts of the inner tube may be adhesively secured to each other. In such a case, the adhesive should be such as to remain in a liquid state until after the mouthpiece has been given its final shape and the paper wrapper has been secured around the outer tube.

The inner tube may contain at least one plug of filter material. The mouthpiece may have a lug projecting inwardly and formed from a slit and bent-up portion of the material of the inner tube. V

The invention further provides a smokers article, e.g. a mouthpiece cigar or cigarette, comprising a tubular mouthpiece having any of the characteristics set forth above, secured to a tobacco rod by means of an encircling band. The mouthpiece may have one or more lugs projecting inwardly, formed from a slit and bent-up portion of the inner tube; the lug or lugs may be located close to the tobacco rod. This minimizes the risk of a fireball" of burning tobacco being drawn through the mouthpiece.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which:-

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a cigar, and

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of the mouthpiece of the cigar taken on the line 11-11 FIGURE 1, showing its construction schematically.

The cigar shown has a tobacco rod comprising a tobacco filler 1 encased in a wrapper 2 formed of reconstituted tobacco and is provided with a tubular mouthpiece 3 secured to the rod by a band 4 of gummed tipping paper. The mouthpiece 3 (FIGURE 2) comprises an outer tube 6 formed with a butt joint 7 and an inner tube 8 having a lapped joint 9, and has a filter plug 5 situated at one end remotely from the filler 1. Neither of these joints need be gummed, although the lapped joint 9 could be gummed if desired. Similarly the inner and outer tubes could be gummed to each other. However, it is preferred that the inner and outer tubes should not be adhesively connected to each other, and that the lapped joint 9 should also be free from adhesive. The tubes 6 and 8 are encased in a retaining wrapper 10 of thin paper having a gummed lap scam I]. If the tubes 6 and 8 are free from adhesive, as is preferred, they are held in position solely by the wrapper 10. Both the tubes 6 and 8 are formed of thin card which is resilient. An upstanding lug 12 is cut out of the tube 8 to project inwardly and locate the plug 5 in position lengthwise of the cigar. Further lugs 13, larger than the lug 12, are provided near the tobacco rod, and project inwardly to minimize chances of a fireball" of burning tobacco (i.e. the small portion of burning tobacco remaining when a cigar or cigarette has been smoked nearly to its end) being drawn through the mouthpiece.

We claim:

1. A tubular mouthpiece for securing to a tobacco rod to form a smokers article comprising a composite tubular member comprising an inner reinforcing tube comprising a strip of resilient material, the longitudinal edges of which are non-abutting, an outer tube around said inner tube and comprising a further strip of resilient material, the longitudinal edges thereof neatly abutting, and a thin paper wrapper enclosing and secured around the outer tube; and a generally cylindrical filter plug located within said inner reinforcing tube of said tubular member and having a substantially shorter length in an axial direction than said tubular member; at least one lug cut from said inner reinforcing tube intermediate its ends and projecting inwardly adjacent said plug for retaining said plug in position between said lug and one end of the composite tubular member; and at least one further lug cut from said inner reinforcing tube intermediate its ends and projecting inwardly at a position between said plug and the opposite end of said composite tubular member and spaced from said first mentioned lug to define a chamber between said first mentioned lug and said further lug to prevent burning tobacco being drawn through the mouthpiece when secured to a tobacco rod, said chamber having an axial length substantially greater than that of said plug.

2. A mouthpiece as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the longitudinal edge portions of the inner tube of the mouthpiece overlap each other.

3. A mouthpiece as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the inner and outer tubes of the mouthpiece are held in place solely by the thin paper wrapper and are themselves free from any adhesive bond between them.

4. A mouthpiece as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the overlapping iongitudinal edge portions of the inner tube are free from adhesive.

5. A mouthpiece as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the inner and outer tubes are adhesively secured to each other.

6. A mouthpiece as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the overlapping longitudianal edge portions of the inner tube are adhesively secured to each other.

7. A smokers article comprising a tubular mouthpiece as claimed in Claim 1, secured to a tobacco rod by means of an encircling band.

8. A tubular mouthpiece for securing to a tobacco rod to form a smokers article comprising a composite tubular member comprising an inner reinforcing tube comprising a strip of resilient material, the longitudinal edges of which are non-abutting, an outer tube around said inner tube and comprising a further strip of resilient material, the longitudinal edges thereof neatly abutting, said inner and outer tubes being axially coextensive, and a thin paper wrapper enclosing and secured around the outer tube; and a separate, self contained generally cylindrical filter plug located within said inner reinforcing tube of said tubular member and having a substantially shorter length in an axial direction than said tubular member. 

